History Main / Ghostwriter

* ''Series/{{Wishbone}}'': In "Cyranose", paralleling ''Literature/CyranoDeBergerac'', David, Joe, and Sam are assigned to write a poem for their English class. While Joe and Sam manage to write their own poems, David struggles to do. However, he finds a poem addressed to him in his mailbox and he shares it with the class. When his English teacher, Mr. Prewett, is so impressed that he asks him if he can publish it on his behalf, David tells the truth (and also brings a poem he actually wrote himself). David soon discovers that the poem he'd received had been written by [[spoiler:Wanda, the trio's neighbor]].

It may be an UncreditedRole, although sometimes they are credited. Given that any prestige of the work generally goes to the credited writer, it may be a FallenOnHardTimesJob, or a form of PayingTheirDues a writer might take while aspiring to their own literary goals. And let's face it, a book with Big Famous Celebrity's name on the cover is always [[MoneyDearBoy going to generate more sales]] than a book with Unknown Writer on the byline; a cut of those royalties could easily fund a writer's less lucrative passion project.

* After the first few books, and ''Creator/VCAndrews'' death in 1986, most of her works were written by Andrew Neidermeyer. WordOfGod states that most of the ideas came from detailed Author Notes.

* Music/DrDre doesn't write his own raps, usually relying on his collaborators to do it for him - and even to rap demos demonstrating how the flow is supposed to work. While he's used numerous writers, his main writer on ''The Chronic'' was Music/SnoopDogg, his main writer on ''2001'' and ''[[DevelopmentHell Detox]]'' was Music/{{Eminem}}, and his main writer on ''Compton'' was Music/KendrickLamar.

!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=17077420830.85202100 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.

* ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'': [[spoiler:Toru Nanamine]] reveals that he's not writing by himself, but has an online group of select 50 fans, which includes alleged veterans, who write for him, while he acts as a director. He plans to make a point that Jump's editors are incompetent while making minimum effort himself. While his first two chapters recieve a lot of praise, from there on it gets too inconsistent and the rankings sink to the bottom, while his narcissism and lack of direction make all of his assistants leave.

* ''Manga/Bakuman'': [[spoiler:Toru Nanamine]] reveals that he's not writing by himself, but has an online group of select 50 fans, which includes alleged veterans, who write for him, while he acts as a director. He plans to make a point that Jump's editors are incompetent while making minimum effort himself. While his first two chapters recieve a lot of praise, from there on it gets too inconsistent and the rankings sink to the bottom, while his narcissism and lack of direction make all of his assistants leave.

* In ''Anime/JubeiChan'', Sai Nanohana, father of the heroine Jiyu, is a ghostwriter of JidaiGeki novels about samurai. He proves to be dangerously GenreSavvy whenever the plot allows him to find out about the battles his daughter is involved in. In the sequel series, a major subplot involves Jiyu asking him to write an original novel, in a different genre, under his own name. He has to struggle with WritersBlock, and also has to try to keep his daughter from learning that one of his clients got him to do OneLastJob as a ghostwriter.

* Creator/AnnMMartin wrote the first 22 books of ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'' series herself, but started employing ghostwriters by book #23, ''Dawn on the Coast'' as she didn't know much about California. As books continued to be released monthly, ghostwriters were employed with their writing interspersed with Martin's until book #58. After that every book in the main series was done by ghostwriters, though Martin continued to consult and create the plots for the writers. Ghostwriters were also used for the spinoffs and side series, including the ''Little Sister'' series (and its spinoff), ''Literature/CaliforniaDiaries'', and ''Friends Forever'' series. (The later {{Prequel}} ''The Summer Before'' was written by Martin in 2011). Creator/DavidLevithan got his start ghostwriting for the series, and a list of known ghostwriters can be found [[http://bscag.blogspot.com/2013/10/acknowledging-ghostwriters.html here]].

* Creator/AnnMMartin wrote the first 22 books of ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub'' series herself, but started employing ghostwriters by book #23, ''Dawn on the Coast'' as she didn't know much about California. As books continued to be released monthly, ghostwriters were employed with their writing interspersed with Martin's until book #58. After that every book in the main series was done by ghostwriters, though Martin continued to consult and create the plots for the writers. Ghostwriters were also used for the spinoffs and side series, including the ''Little Sister'' series (and its spinoff), ''Literature/CalifornaiDiaries'', and ''Friends Forever'' series. (The later {{Prequel}} ''The Summer Before'' was written by Martin in 2011). Creator/DavidLevithan got his start ghostwriting for the series, and a list of known ghostwriters can be found [[http://bscag.blogspot.com/2013/10/acknowledging-ghostwriters.html here]].

* As [[AIIsACrapshoot AI]] technology such as [=ChatGPT=] becomes increasingly good at generating reasonably coherent essays in response to user prompts, this has created an ethical gray area as some people have discussed using it to write such things as online content or magazine articles. Is it the same as using an uncredited ghostwriter for the same project? What if a writer uses it for an assignment? Who's to blame if the [=AI=] makes a factual error? Time will tell what the consensus turns out to be. It's generally accepted, at least, that using an [=AI=] to write your homework is still cheating.

* ''Literature/TheCatInTheStacks'': In book 1 (''Murder Past Due''), Charlie finds evidence that a ghostwriter has been writing novels for Godfrey Priest (starting with his sixth book), and is pretty angry at him for not getting their fair share of the money said books are bringing in. [[spoiler:He eventually figures out the ghostwriter's identity, and during the climax, Charlie's coworker Willie Clark confirms what Charlie suspected -- that ''he'' was the ghostwriter.]]